India
Calcutta
January 6th
We flew in from New York on Ethiad in their new “apartment” seats, and landed in Kolkata (or Calcutta).
After an hour drive from the airport, we arrived at The Glenburn Penthouse in the late hours of the evening and quickly went to bed.
January 7th
Woke up around 6am and went to the gym at the hotel. Shortly after, a bit of a rock of the hotel building felt alarming, but we wrote it off as a potential subway or public transportation causing the building to sway. We shortly found out that it was a 7+ earthquake almost 400km away… that we felt all the way in Kolkata. What a welcome to India!
We had an Indian breakfast around 9:30 that morning and then took to the car for our tour of the city. We first stopped at a Jain temple at Maniktala. The temple was very beautiful, colorful, and ornate inside. No photos were allowed.
Not far down the street we went off to a food market where we saw all the spices, vegetables, fruits, roots, seafood and probably anything else you could imagine would be for sale. Watching the butchers (?) cut the live fish on the same platform they were seated on was a sight to see. Max was not enthusiastic about the fragrances.
We then went off to another neighborhood, Hatkhola, where many of the Hindu deities are formed and created for upcoming festivals and celebrations. They were preparing for the upcoming Maha Kum festival. We must have seen thousands of interpretations of gods and goddesses made from hay and the clay from the Ganga.
We hopped across the tracks to check out the action happening on the ghats… couples taking photos together, people dressed in white shaving all their body hair, animals looking for scraps, vendors selling things from napkins to food, people doing their laundry, artists pulling clay from the river, people taking baths, and so on.
The last stop of the day was in College Square where we stopped at well known coffee shop that’s been around for years. After a few hesitant bites of their egg and veggie fried rice, we headed out to the book street where all students come to buy their textbooks for school. Max couldn’t believe the number of books, vendors, and students needing their books. He said something like, “All these people… need to get these books… today?” The street was swarming with people.
We opted out of dinner this evening because we could barely keep our eyes open from the jet lag. I think we passed out at 6pm.
Our guide was trying to talk to me about how Indians like to wear colorful clothing, and then casually mentioned that my outfit would get rated a 3 out of 10. The next day, however, he called my look “professional”. He also used a funny phrase that not many Americans use, but he used the term “Every Paul, Harry and Dick would have one the next day” - talking about people using temporary red lights on the top of their vehicle to move through traffic quickly.
January 8th
We started this days tour at the Queen Victoria Memorial near Maidan. It didn’t take us long to tour through the building, but the works of art inside were beautiful and we learned more about the English “rule” during this time when Calcutta was their chosen capital. We then took one quick pass through a Catholic Church across the street, whose architecture is clearly different than the rest of the city. The church is well preserved and there were other tourists inside.
The flower market just under the Howrah Bridge was Hailey’s highlight of Kolkata. The number of old yellow taxis, motorbikes, locals walking about, animals roaming, cyclists coming from all corners, kids playing make-shift cricket, more couples taking photoshoots, farmers on the floor selling their grasses and flowers…. The whole combustion of things was a sight to see. It was like an auction house, and the louder the voices got the more our eyes widened. The bees were in paradise running from flower to flower.
We crossed the Howrah Bridge to take a look at the busy train stations of Kolkata and were, again, blown away by the amount of people, noises, smells and microcosms all happening at once. The travelers getting on and off the train were from all walks of life and many a stories were to be told.
After just watching the action of the train station, we walked across the street to take the ferry boat back over to the Kolkata side. The ferry didn’t go far and the price to ride was under $1 (I might be wrong but think it was 12 cents). After the 15 minute joy ride where people were not-so-incognito taking our pictures, we departed the ferry and made our way to the South Park Street Cemetery where a number of people are buried. Unique to Kolkata because Hindus may believe that after death the body is to be burned, so a burial ground is a unique place. Many of the people buried are old English.
We went to Peter Cat for dinner this evening and had an incredible meal also recommended to us by friends from back home. Hailey got the chicken Biryani. Max got the kebab plate they’re known for. We talked to our tour leader about walking home from dinner at night and he shook his head assuring us it was absolutely no problem at all. India is safe. Then just before he left he said to make it back by 10pm and don’t go zig zag through the alleyways on your way back home.
Darjeeling
January 9th
We landed in Bagdogra at 11am and prepared ourselves for the 3 hour drive up to Darjeeling. Halfway through the drive we stopped for some tea, cheese sandwiches, and a banana with nuts in it. Max took pleasure in feeding the local stray dog that came up to sniff us out.
Halfway up to Darjeeling we started to notice the small train tracks on the road almost where you’d expect a sidewalk to be. We hadn’t seen the train yet, but our guide informed us that Darjeeling is famous for the three T’s. Tourism, Tea and Trains.
We got to The Glenburn Tea Estate by 3pm and settled in to have some, you guessed it, tea, and a light lunch. That night we had a South Indian Dinner consisting of: Banana leaf rice, dal with curry leaves, sinhalese chicken, vegetable kofta, avail (Hailey’s fave!), coconut beans, and cabbage with curry. We sat at the community table where we met other travelers, including a fellow Camino de Santiago pilgrim!
January 10th
The next morning our door was knocked at promptly at 8:30am with fresh tea and biscuits. We received them and drank our tea slowly while looking out the window of our cottage at a clear view of the Himalayan mountains (Kanchenjunga to be exact). Breakfast was an hour later, up on the lawn. It consisted of fresh yogurt, nuts, fresh cut local fruits, home made granola, freshly squeezed fruits, and so on.
By 10am we were in the car on our way to Darjeeling (proper). We arrived by 11am and started off at the zoo where we saw deer, a red panda, a white Siberian tiger (the highlight!), leopards, Himalayan wolves, etc. Right next to the zoo is the Himalayan Mountain Institute where many used to go to train prior to climbing the mountains. Specifically it was the place where Hillary went to train before summiting Everest for the first time. For any climber, this is a must.
We then walked down the main drag of Darjeeling where many things were for sale, including pastimes from Kashmir. Hailey picked up some precious gemstone necklaces: 1 rose quartz and 2 jade. Max spotted a Dominos and took an obligatory photo. We sat for tea at a cafe nearby before making our way to the train station to have our much anticipated “toy train” experience on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.
We marveled at the train as it pulled up in all of its antiquity and glory, dripping of black liquids, steaming incessantly, and commanding in presence. It begs you to take a step back and appreciate all the advancements in inventions of human history. The “little train that could” huffs and puffs up and down this mountain daily, taking passengers as tourists now, but once upon a time was used to lug tea up and down from the tea estates. Watching the 4-5 train conductors all work together to make the train still chug along, breaking the coal down into small pieces, shoveling the coal inside the burner, refilling the water tank with water, tightening and loosening bolts… makes you contemplate all the technology we use without even a thought of how it functions behind the scenes.
Max opted out for dinner, but Hailey braved the community table on her own this evening.
January 11th
Another morning tea wake up call, another Indian-American breakfast, we went to have lunch this day in the orchard from the Glenburn property. A nice intimate lunch in the orchard and a conversation with the chef, we walked back to property by 5pm. We made it a leisurely day and clocked out early.
Sikkim
January 12th
This morning we met the Shakti Sikkim Village Walk team for our next few days of hiking Sikkim. We left around 10am and arrived to Jorethang for a walk through the local market as well as lunch at one of the hotels in town. The food was delicious! A great start to our Sikkimese adventure. They were preparing for an upcoming festival, so there were many people out shopping and setting up roller coaster rides for the big celebration. By 4pm we made it to our first homestay of the trip. We opted to have dinner in our room this evening as we were still slightly battling the jet lag and a little stomach upsets.
January 13th
We started our morning with bellies full of incredible breakfast and did a mini acclimation trek through the mountains, mini villages, into another market, then stopped in an artisan shop and watched the women crafting rugs together based on local traditions, colors and patterns. The highlight of the day (and maybe the whole trek) was stumbling upon 4 young kids playing cricket in a somewhat flat field. Our guide took the reins and got us in the game immediately. Max went to bat first while simultaneously learning the rules of the game. Very impressed! Next up, Hailey took a few cracks and felt equally as proud of her performance. The kids were having fun, they liked laughing at us, they enjoyed having visitors, their parents started playing Indian music out loud for everyone to hear, and it was such bright spot in the entire trip to India.
30 minutes later, just down the forest “road” we came across a Buddhist temple where 6 teenage looking boys were all dressed in their monk clothing, but shaving the head of a fellow monk. It may have been haircut day; one was holding the electric razor, the other was holding a razor… ready to get that close shave. Max jokingly suggested that he would have them buzz his head too… of which we were close to doing (for the memories!!!).
Lunch was just 30 minutes later at a nice clearing, except for that thunder clouds came rolling out and we had to take our lunch inside a local villagers home. After racing inside one of the huts, Max found himself sitting on the grandmothers bed (thinking it was a bench to sit on), and we were the only two inside the home and were encouraged to eat the meal they prepared for us. The lady who owned the home was so kind, she had to bring the chicks in from the rain and kept them under a basket. They were making so much noise and she kept shushing them, as to not bother us. Shortly after, pea sized hail came down, and we knew we were committed to staying at this lady’s home for a little while longer.
When the rain cleared we headed back to the first campsite where Hailey had a butter chicken cooking lesson from the best local chef in all of Bengal. Yes, it was divine!
Trek summary: walked 5 miles, climbed 76 flights
January 14th
At breakfast we were greeted by a local villager lady who put a root vegetable paste on our foreheads that was to bless us for the day of the festival. We started our trek, passed by a stupa, learned lessons of buddha, walked through the beautiful forests of Sikkim, stumbled upon private Hindu offering rooms, were followed by stray dogs for hours on end, passed by local villagers homes, children helping with family and farm chores, walked past breathtaking views of the Himalayas, spent time with orphaned children and gave them chocolates, trekked some more, dug out wild ginger and turmeric from the ground, passed by more villagers homes with farm animals in their pen, had a quick lunch, then made it to our next homestay where hot water buckets (with Himalayan salt!) were waiting for us to soak our feet inside. We watched the sunset while soaking our feet and cleaned up for dinner.
Max claimed to have had the best meal in all of India this night with our incredible chef’s Tibetan inspired meal: dumplings, Bhutanese chili & cheese, egg drop soup, and more. Millet beer was prepared for us, of which we tried some. It was warm, sake-like.
Trek summary: walked 7+ miles, climbed 169 flights
January 15th
It was offered to Hailey to help with the morning chores of milking the cows at 5:30am… but she slept in and missed the opportunity.
This day of hiking was our favorite as we went from Hee, down a valley, then up a steep incline, all in a lush forest with a downhill river rushing through and across an old bridge. We stopped to say hi to some of the mountain folks who live in this region and spent some time with two little girls… trying to communicate in any way.
Max played a few games of chess with our guide, Pujan - who proved a worthy opponent.
That evening we had a dance show put on by 10 or so local villager kids where they danced and sang to Nepali music also wearing traditional Nepali clothing. After the performance they sat with us by the fire and drank hot cocoa and ate from a large bowl of popcorn.
Rishikesh
January 16th
We took the entire day driving from Sikkim to Bagdora. We left at 6:30am and arrived at Bagdora by 4:30pm. We arrived in Delhi that night, only for a quick night’s sleep before turning around the next morning to head to Rishikesh.
January 17th
We landed in Rishikesh around 3pm and made it to Ananda in the Himalayas around 4pm. Already we could tell the place was special, a lot more tourists flying in, the airport was clean and orderly, not as many cars honking, etc.
We had a 90 minute Ayurvedic massage almost immediately after arriving on property :)
January 18th
Our first full day at Ananda in the Himalayas started with 7:15am mantra chanting immediately followed by 7:30am Hatha Yoga class. Hailey had an Ayurvedic Wellness Consultation which led her to being categorized as mainly a Kapha dosha, with a little Pitta and Vata.
That morning’s Vedanta lesson was about the optionality of stress, followed by a Kundalini back massage, a 2pm chakra aligning lesson, a 3pm eye detox using medicated ghee, and dinner that evening. The chicken & chili was our favorite.
January 19th
The morning began in the spa, a marma massage (all 108 pressure points on the body being tended to), an Ayurvedic head massage, group sound healing, and the evening’s Vedanta lesson.
January 20th
Another morning beginning with mantra changing, group hatha yoga, a session at the gym, deep tissue massages, reflexology, then a tour down in Rishikesh to catch the evening Aarti prayers at the Ganga river at Parmarth Niketan. Down in Rishikesh, we walked by the ashram that The Beatles spent 2 months at in the 70s before releasing the White Album. The people in this area have a certain style and swag about them.
January 21st
Another day of healing and relaxing at Ananda. Every day we started our lunch with different detox drinks: liver, kidney and colon being the rotation :) This day we saw lemur monkeys roaming around the property.
Jaipur
January 22nd
Our last day at Ananda, with a 3pm sound healing being the final class taken, before we took back to the airport and made our way to Jaipur. Hailey ate an agilo olio pasta at the airport and got sick from it. Should have known better.
January 23rd
The hotel, Rajmahal Palace, in Jaipur was an interior designers dream, we had an incredible suite and the breakfast hall was picture perfect.
We started the day off with a tour of the flower and food markets - one of our favorite places to visit regardless of the city. A blessing ceremony was prepared for us at a temple dedicated to Lakshmi. We then visited an ancient observatory that had endless instruments of measurements all around ranging from astrology to mathematics. The last visit of the day was to the city palace, which was the most impressive attraction in the city.
That evening we went back to the City Palace to have our private dinner, where we dressed in traditional Indian clothing (Max in a turban!) and were greeted by an entourage of almost 40 people, musicians, a professional photography team, camels, horses, and even an elephant. We were brought into the palace on horse and carriage and even had a rose petal shower upon entering.
When we got into the palace, a dance and music ceremony was planned for us, so we sipped on a glass of champagne, ate hors devours and enjoyed the show. Later we were escorted to our dinner table where we had our own music group playing for us while we ate the local cuisine.
January 24th
We woke up at 5:30am to head to take a hot air balloon ride at 7:30 just outside the city. It was fun to see the sun rising over the farmland in the morning, and hovering over people’s homes in the balloon saying hi to the local kids who got so excited to see the balloon floating so close to their home.
Later that evening around 4pm we went to the Amber Fort just outside of Jaipur. This palace was incredible, people everywhere. After the fort visit we went to an elephant and animal refuge, spent some time feeding elephants, taking a walk with them, then having a dinner on the farm property as the sun went down. Our elephants name was Rangmala. She was friendly and seemed excited to have visitors (maybe it was the food).
Jodhpur
January 25th
We left around 10am for Jodhpur, a 5 hour drive away and checked into the castle/palace Umaid Bhawan by 4pm. That evening we had a private tour of the fort that overlooked the blue city of Jodhpur.
January 26th
This day was India’s Flag day, a national holiday. There were horses, army men, bands, and other ceremonial figureheads in front of the hotel/casle to commemorate the special day. After the morning’s celebrations, we walked through the blue city and learned about all the daily life of a shopkeeper in this part of the city.
Jawai
January 27th
We left Jodhpur and headed to Sujan Jawai - about a 3 hour drive away - to spend the next few days hunting for leopards in the wilderness. We took it easy this day, Hailey went for a massage and Max walked around the property and spotted a leopard while on foot!
January 28th
The highlight of the leopard spotting was seeing a mother leopard perched on top of a rock set just outside of a large cave and seeing her baby cub feeding. The cub would take breaks from feeding and stare out in our direction while the mother would lick/clean the baby cat.
After the morning leopard safari we stopped off at the horse stables to meet the local Marwhali horses (whose ears are their unique feature).
The afternoon safari was exciting because we got to see more villagers, shepherds, kids coming home from schools in their shared tuktuk, women carrying hay from the fields upon their heads, other kids playing around with whatever local left behind treasure they could find (in this case it was old tires), and then we concluded by searching for alligators in the body of water nearby (or “water body” as our guide Siddhartha would call it). The people of this countryside were our favorite, as they seemed the happiest, definitely the most friendly, the most organically dressed, and comfortability with their environment around them.
January 29th
There was a new construction project going on, so we watched dozens of women walking their way to the construction site to prepare for their day of work
Udaipur
January 30th
Our final day of leopard safari we got to spend some time with a male leopard who was moving from rock mountain to another, he waltzed right in front of our jeep and made his way up another rock canyon. He was a lot larger and energetic than the female leopard we had previously seen.
On our way to Udaipur, we stopped off at the Ranakpur Jain Temple that’s one of the most well known ones. They were very particular about who was able to take pictures inside.
Checked into the Taj Lake Palace, had dinner on the roof
January 31st
Private tour of the City Palace, spent some time at the pool, took a walk through the streets to see the local activity,
February 1st
Rode bikes from 1 lake to another for about 2 hours
Cooking class in the house of a local
Mumbai
February 2nd
Left around 11am to catch our flight to Mumbai, of which we landed at 2pm and checked into the Taj Mahal Palace.
We broke our “dry January” by having a cocktail at Bombay Cantina, then headed off to dinner at Masque.
February 3rd
We had a city tour of the Gateway of India, a walking tour around the posh neighborhoods of Mumbai, University of Mumbai, a tour of the central railway train station, a visit to see the lunchbox delivery station on the sidewalk near Churchgate, an overview look of an old school laundromat (spoiler alert, there is no “mat”... it’s open air near Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat), then a trip down an antique market Bhendi Bazaar (that was also a vehicle scrap yard… among many other things). After what felt like a day of power touristing, after 30 straight days of power touristing in India, we finally made it back to our hotel around 1:30pm and exhaustedly sat at our hotel’s local Chinese restaurant. We called it a day!
Dinner this night was at an Italian place called The Table walking distance from the hotel, and we walked in behind Elizabeth Hurley and her family. We took the long way home and walked along the causeway on our way back to the hotel and picked up a new pair of sneakers for Max from Nike.
February 4th
We left around 8am to make our ways to the Elephanta Caves just a 30 minute boat ride from the dock in Mumbai. We saw stray dogs, fighting monkeys, incredible Hindu sculptures carved directly into the caves, countless swirling hawks above, way too many security guards, and almost no tourists (because we came so early!). All around, the tour took about 3 hours, so we took the afternoon off, relaxed and headed out for cocktails at Aer at the Four Seasons Hotel, then had dinner at Ekaa, a well known restaurant in Mumbai.
February 5th
Left at 8am to catch our flight to the Maldives! Cheval Blanc here we come!